Hydrocarbon heating apparatus



June 12, 1928. I 1,673,203

A. F. REIF ET AL HYDROCARBON HEATING APPARATUS Filfid Sept. 9, 1927lNVENTORS ALLAN F. REIF CHARLES A. Raw- Patented .lune 12', 1928.

UNITED STATES ALLEN FRANK REIF AND CHARLES AUGUSTUSBEIF, OF- BUFFALO,IrTIIW YORK.

HYDROGARBON HEATING APPARATUS.

Application filed September 9, 1927. Serial No. 218,542.,

Our invention relates to improvements in hydrocarbon heating apparatus,and the object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for thevaporizingand burning of hydrocarbon fuels,.and more especially theheavier varieties thereof, and a further object of our invention is toconstructan apparatus in which oil andair are agitated and mixedtogether under pressure before passing into the conduit leading into thecombustion chamber.

A still further object of our invention is to provide means situated inthe combustion chamber end of the aforesaid conduit for imparting aswirling motion to the oil and air mixture as it passes therefrom andalso to provide means at the end of the air blast conduit, whichsurrounds the air and oil mixture conduit for imparting an opposed swirlto the blast so that the air from the blast and the air and oil mixtureare thoroughly mixed together as they pass into the combustion chamberand become ignited. Another object of our invention is to provide valvesfor controlling the entrance of air into the chamber wherein the oil andair are mixed together in order to control the admittance of air inproportion to the quantity of oilbeing used.

Our invention consists of a hydrocarbon heating apparatus constructedand arranged as hereinafter more particularly described and illustratedin the accompanying drawing, in 'which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of our hydrocarbon heating. apparatus,showing a fragmentary portion of a furnace combustion chamber. v Fig. 2an end'elevational view thereof.

' conduits, being taken through the line 5-5 Fig. 3 1s a sideelevational view of a rotary pump wherein the oil and air are mixedtogether, the cover plate of the pump being removed in order to disclosethe interior thereof.

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view through the pump assembly,showing the air chamber upon the side thereof, being taken through theline l4 Fig. 3'.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged,cross-sectional view of a fragmentary portion ofthe pump casing, showing the entrance of the oil and air Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view through one of the valves forcontrolling the entrance of air to the pump.

"and contains a circular the shaft 12, the outer- Fig. 7 is an enlargedcross-sectional view of the combustion chamber end of the air conduitshowing our constructionfor swirling the blast and oil and air mixture.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the member for imparting the swirlingmotion to the oil and air mixture, and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the member for swirling the air blast.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in thedifferent views.

The air blast blower fan 1, electric motor 2 therefor, and air blastconduit 3 leading to the combustion chamber 4, follow stand ard practicein design, the fan and motor being mounted upon a frame 5, which ispositioned exteriorly of the furnace. A

- should the motor stop through failure of the electrical power themagnetic valve closes and shuts off the duit 8.

Upon. the side of the casing of the fan 1, we position an oil and airpump, the rotor 11 of the pump being mounted upon a shaft 12,

which is a continuation of the shaft 13 passpart of the presentinpassage of oil in the coning from the motor into the fan and uponwhich the fan is mounted. The rotary pump is of the sliding bladetype,-the rotor 11 be ing furnished witha plurality of slots 14, whichcommunicate with the peripheral face thereof and carry a plurality ofblades 15. The pump casing 16 is of circular form and is positionedeccentricallyof the shaft 12 pump chamber 17, which is eccentric of endsof the blades 15 engaging the eccentric wall of the chamber as clearlyillustrated in Fig. 3. The pump casing 16 is open in its ends andprovided with a pairof cover plates 18 and-19. The cover plate 18 havinga central orifice 20 and 9. though which theshaft 12 asses, a packingring 22 being furnished or preventionof oil leakage around the shaft.The two co'ver plates are secured upon the pump casing by bushing 21means of a plurality of bolts 23, which pass through the three membersand also through a cup shaped casing 24 of the same diame- 'ter which ispositioned upon the outer face of the plate 12 and constitutes the airchamber 124 of the pulnp.

As the oil feed conduit 8 passes around the casing of the blower fan 1it enters a manually actuated valve 25 which is in turn connected to thepump by conduit 26. This conduit 26 enters the chamber 17 through aradially extending orifice 27 in the casing '16. The outlet conduit 28from the pump to the nozzle of the burner extends from a point in thecasing 16 diametrically opposite the inlet conduit26 and passes into theouter end of the'air blast conduit 3 extending centrally thereof to itsinner end 29 where we provide our structure for impart-- ing a swirlingmotion to the oil and air mixture as shall now be described.

Interiorly of the inner end 29 of the air blast conduit 3 we provide anair blast swirling member of the form illustrated in Fig. 9 andcomprising a central sleeve 30 having a plurality of radially positionedarms 31 projecting therefrom, which extend to the inside face of the airblast conduit 3.

Upon these arms 31 we form curved blades 32 against which the. air blastimpinges and in so doing acquires a swirling motion as it leaves theopen end 29 and passes into the furnace. Upon the end of the conduit 28which extends to the end 29 of the air blast conduit 3, we provide astructure for imparting a swirl to the oil and air mixture, as it entersthe furnace. Such structure is illustrated in Fig. 7 and consists of acylindrical nozzlecasing 33 provided in its outer end 34 with a centraljet orifice 35. The inner end of the casing 33 is interiorly threadedand adapted to receive a threading bushing36 into which the end ofthe-conduit 28 is tightly secured. Interiorly of the casing 33 weposition our means for imparting a swirl to the oil and air mixturepassing therethrough. Such means is illustrated in perspective in Fig; 8and comprises a solid cylindrical member 37 adapted to closely fitwithin the interior of the casing 33 in the vicinity of its outer endand through which the oil and air mixture asses.

The face 38 of this member 37 is angularly out at a plurality of pointsto produce a plurality of inclined faces 39 which extend downwardly fromradial lines 40to points 41 in the peripheral face of the member 37. Theformation of these faces 39 forms triangular faces 42 which extendinwardly at right angles from radial edges 43 in the face 38 to theinclined radial edges 44 of the faces 39. 45 .are a plurality ofpassages extending through the member 38 and through which the oil andair mixture passes from the conduit 28. These passages 45 terminate incross passages 46 which each open into a triangular face 42 in thevicinity of the peripheral face of the member 37. The member 37 is heldin position within the inner end of the cylindrical casing 33 by spiralspring 47 which extends between the inner face of the bushing 36 and themember 37. It will be seen upon reference to Fig. 7 that the end of thecasing 33 is of concave form upon its inner side so that the face 38 ofthe member 37 does not come into contact with the inner end of theorifice 35, but that a space 48 is constituted into which the oil andair mixture enters as it leaves the mouths of the cross passages 46before passing throughthe orifice 35. For directing a proportion of theswirled air blast passing through the outer end 29 of the conduit 3directly upon the jet of oil and air mixture leaving the orifice 35 weprovide a ring 49 positioned around the outer end of the casing 33 andspaced apart therefrom so that a certain proportion of the air blastpasses between the ring and the casing and is directed .directly uponthe jet of oil and air mixture.

In the casing 24 which constitutes the air chamber 124 of the oil andair pump, we provide a check valve in the air inlet entrance and alsoasecond check valve in a passage 50 extendingthrough the cover outletorifice 56 therein. 57 is a passage extending from the other end of thecasing to the inner end of the chamber .53, and 58 1s a ball valve whichcontrols the passage of fluid from the passage 57 to the chamber 53under' the influence of a spiral spring 59 which extends between theball and the inner face of the plug 55. The. air inlet to-the airchamber of the pump and the orifice 50 in the cover plate 19 aresuitably threaded to receive the casings 51 of the valves which arethreaded thereinto and 60 are look nuts threaded upon the casings forsecuring them in the respective orifices into which they are threaded. i

The operation of on; hydrocarbon ing apparatus is as follows;

Assuming that the burner is inoperation and that oil is flowing from thestorage tank heatthrough the open magnetic valve 7, float valve 6, andmanually actuated valve 25 to the conduit 26, from where it passes intothe pump chamber 17 and that the blower fan 1 is creating an air blastin the conduit 3 and also rotating the rotor' 11 in the chamber 17, theoil and air will be vapor-.

blades 15- will, of course, be projected outwardly against the wall ofthe chamber due to centrifical force, and the oil fed into the chamberthrough the conduit 26 will be carried around between adjacent blades tothe outlet conduit 28.

Upon reference to Fig. 5, it will be seen that air from the air chamberis admitted to the pump chamber 17 in the same location as the entranceof the oil from the conduit 26, so that the oilandair will mix as theyenter the pump chamber. As the rotor 11 is positioned eccentrically ofthe chamber 17' a partial vacuum will be created between adjacent pairsof blades 15 as they leave the entrance to the outlet conduit 28 andpass around to the inlet of the conduit 26 so that when they communicatewith such inlet, both oil and air are rapidly sucked in. In thisinduction point, however, the maximum volume between blades is notattained but is reached upon further rotation of the rotor aftercommunication with the oil and air supply is cut oil", which willproduce more thorough mixingpf the oil and air. As the blades approachthe entrance to the outlet conduit 28 the volume will decrease and socreate a pressure upon the oil and air mixture causing it to be ejectedinto such conduit when communication is made therewith. For controllingthe supply of air in proportion to the supply of oil to the pump, thecheck valve in the air entrance to the air chamber can bevadjusted byaltering pressure of the spring 59 upon the ball 58, it being of courseunderstood 'that the suction of air into the air chamber lifts the ball58 off its seat against the pressure of the spring 59: The check valveprovided in the orifice communicating with the chamber 17 also functionsin a similar manner and is primarily provided forpreventing a backflowof oil through the passage 50 should for some unforseen reason theoutlet end of the conduit 28 become obstructed.

When the oil and air mixture is ejected from the pump chamber 17 intothe conduit 28, it passes through such conduit into the nozzle ,casing33 at the end thereof. As the they impart a swirling motion to themixture as it enters the space 48 and passes through the jet orifice.

The air blast swirling member positioned in the inner end 29 of the airblast conduit ,3 is provided to impart a swirling motion to the airblast as it merges into the combustion chamber of the furnace and theblades.

32 thereof are so inclined that the swirling of the blast is in anopposite direction to the swirl of the air and oil mixture leaving thejet 35, 'and therefore as these two swirls are opposed in direction andmove about a common center they will become thoroughly mixed togetherand insure a complete combustion of fuel. By the provision of the ring;49 around the casing we have pro-' vidcd a means for directing a portionof the air blast directly upon t-lleair and oil mixture as it leavcslthejet orifice and by adjusting the. position of this ring upon the casing,alteration of the flame length can be obtained to meet variouscombustion chamber conditions.

From the foregoing description it will be readily apparent that we haveconstructed a hydrocarbon fuel burning apparatus of simple form whichcan be readily installed in any standard type of furnace, and in whichwe have provided, for the thorough mixing of air with the fuel oilbefore it is injected into the combustion chamber in conjunction withthe air blast, and in so doing have provided for the thoroughvaporization of the fuel with a;v consequent complete combustion andeconomy in fuel consumption. I By the provision of the check valves inthe entrance to the air chamber and in the communicating orifice betweenthe air chamber and the pump we have furnished a means by which theratio of air to oil supplied can be readily adjusted and furthermore anypossibility of oil overflow into the air chamber from any unforseencause is obviated.

Although we haveshown and described a specific construction forprimarily mixing air with the-oil fuel and swirlin such mixture as itenters the combustion c iamber and mixes with the air blast, it is to be11nderstood that we could with equal facility employ other constructionsfor obtaining this end without departing from the spirit of our der'pressure through its conduit tothe com'- bustion chamber, an air chambercommunicating with said oil pump and with the atmosphere, a check valvethrough which the air passes into. the air chamber, a second checkrvalvethrough which the air passes from the air chamber into the oil pump, the

opening of said check valves being actuated by the suction of the pump,a blade structure at the combustion chamber end of the combustionchamber end of the oil feed conduit and through which the oil and airmixture passes for imparting an opposed swirl to such air and oilmixture as it leaves the oil conduit and passes into the combustionchamber.

2. A hydrocarbon heating ap aratus comprising in combination with a iurnace combustion chamber and an air blast conduit extending theretofrom a rotated fan, an oil conduit positioned interiorly of the airconduit, an oil pump for delivering the oil under pressure through itsconduit to the combustion chamber, means for permitting a supply of airto enter the oil pump to mix with the oiltherein before. its deliveryinto the oil conduit, a cylindrical nozzle casing at the combustionchamber end of the oil conduit having a jet orifice therein and intowhich the oil and air mixture passes before entering the combustionchamber, a swirl imparting member of substantially cylindrical formpositioned within the casing at the jet orifice end thereof, but spacedaway from such orifice and having a passage therein through which theoil and air mixture passes before reaching the jet. orifice, the outletend of said passage being substantially at right angles to the mouth ofthe orifice, and an inclined face formed upon the end of the swirlimparting member against which the mixture impinges after leaving theoutlet end of the passage for imparting a swirl thereto as it leaves thenozzle casing through'the jetorifice.

ALLEN FRANK REIF. CHARLES AUGUSTUS REIF.

